Private English Lessons

Here's another story from crack Korea Times "reporter" Kang Shin-who. It's about native speakers giving illegal private English lessons outside of their private or public school job.

From the story:

'Asked whether he knows that such tutoring is against immigration regulations, he said, "I don't understand why it could be a problem. Most of my friends are doing part-time jobs like me."

Many foreigners are unaware that private tutoring is illegal. Under the Immigration Law, E-2 visa holders and foreigners on tourist visas are banned from making money through giving private lessons'

Now, this clearly is an issue here. It is against the law, yet a lot of native speakers do it to make extra cash. Regardless of how the people in this story feel like it's not a big deal, it is illegal under Korea's visa regulations.

This might be a legitimate story, as well. I find it hard to believe that this guy found three people willing to potentially incriminte themselves by agreeing to an interview for this story. Even though they use fake names, how hard would it by for Kang to go ahead and turn them in. He's made his dislike for foreigners fairly clear with his body of work thus far.

Of course, many native speakers who come here to teach are giant idiots. Last year, a poker game got busted in a native speaker's house. Gambling is illegal here. One of the accused poker players said Korean police should respect HER culture of gambling. Yes, that makes sense (sarcasm).

Yes, it sucks that giving private lessons is illegal, especially when people so clearly want them and are willing to pay a premium to get quality extra lessons. If you do it, you run the risk of being deported.

The chances of you being found out are slim, though I've hd two friends already who were reprimanded for their extracurricular lessons. One of those friends was threatened with deportation. He was forced to quit the extra job and pay the money back.

If you decide to give private lessons, good luck to you. I'm in the camp that sees no problem with it, yet I still recognize that we're breaking the law by doing it.